Minneapolis prosecutors charge ICE agent with assault

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty on Monday said her office had filed charges against ICE agent Christian Castro for allegedly shooting a lawful Minnesota resident while attempting to make an immigration arrest. Her office on Monday also issued a warrant for Castro’s arrest that cited four counts of 2nd degree assault with a dangerous weapon. Castro is the second ICE agent to receive an arrest warrant from Moriarty’s office this year. The other, Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr., was issued an arrest warrant in April for allegedly aiming a gun at the heads of two civilians.

What happened in Castro’s case? Moriarty’s office claims that Castro fired his weapon through the front door of a home on Jan. 14, 2026, striking Julio Sosa-Celis in the leg. The incident, which occurred during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, followed an alleged altercation between Castro, Sosa-Celis, and a second local resident. Shortly after the incident, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a statement describing Castro’s actions as self-defense while he was being attacked. Federal prosecutors later filed assault charges against the Sosa-Celis and the other man who allegedly assaulted Castro.

Sworn testimony from an FBI agent corroborated that version of events until new evidence came to light in the form of grainy security camera footage. Federal prosecutors then dropped the charges against the two defendants, saying that evidence contradicted the statements of the FBI agent. Former acting ICE Director Todd Lyons reportedly also said that the U.S. Attorney’s Office was investigating possibly false statements made by Castro and another ICE agent present for the altercation.

In a statement, a DHS spokesperson told WORLD Moriarty’s charges amounted to a political stunt. But the agency added that ICE agents who lied under oath would ultimately be terminated and potentially prosecuted.

Dig deeper: Read my reports in Compassion about the shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis.